By John Sigler | Saintswire
In recent years, New Orleans Saints fans have been profiled along with every other NFL fanbase by Professor Michael Lewis of Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. Lewis seeks to objectively survey the NFL’s best (and worst) fans, relying on a few select factors to rank them against their peers.
In his 2019 study, Lewis ended up placing Saints fans at the No. 10 spot — a drop after they ranked No. 7 last year. Here’s how he described his methodology:
My approach to evaluating fan bases uses data on attendance, revenues, social media following and road attendance to develop statistical models of fan interest. The key is that the models are used to determine which city’s fans are more willing to spend or follow their teams after controlling for factors like market size and short-term changes in winning and losing.
Saints fans ranked highest in “road equity,” which measures their attendance in away games. They were graded 7th-best in that category, with only six fanbases receiving higher marks for traveling well to other teams’ stadiums. Several of those represent teams with strong national brands like the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, and Dallas Cowboys...
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